Burned Out
by chicgeek1999
Summary: My name is Matches Anne Curtis and I am a greaser. Everyone knows that. I mean my brothers, my best friend, even my usual grocer are greasers. As everyone knows, however, being a grease isn't easy. I learned that the hard way. (I know Outsiders is older and there are a million sister fics for it but this is my rendition. Dally and Johnny are alive and the boys screw up big time.)


Tears were streaming down my face. My heart felt broken and I guess it matched my face. Socs fucking suck. What sucks even more is when your older brother says you mean nothing to him that you are just some extra mouth to feed useless, pointless, and a danger to the brothers that he held so high on two neat little pedestals, the ones that didn't stick up against the eldest's rage and yet we forget about the stupid, idiotic friends who did not fight for me as my brother yelled what he wanted to. After all that, I just took the beating. I screamed at first and I really could have escaped easy, done it before, but I didn't have anything to fight for anymore my brother had actually kicked me out. I had heard Soda call me quietly before I ran off but I was long gone before he could stop me. Now, I lay in the center of the lot taking the freaking beating like a god sent gift.

"We're gonna cut yer hair, ya stupid she-grease." A Soc in a blue sweater said to me as he pulled a switch blade and yanked on my hair, getting ready to cut the long hair that reached past her lower back. "Your greasy hair is all coming off."

 _Back at the Curtis Household…_

Darry, Johnny, Dally, Ponyboy, Two-Bit, Sodapop, and even Steve all stared at the door that the Curtis sister had left through. Soda's hand was still reaching after Matches, his twin, the twin he let Darry kick out. The conversation played over and over again in all of their minds, the scene that lead to such a horrible ending.

 _Flashback…_

The gang had come back from a pretty tough rumble and they were all pretty beaten down except for Matches who the entire gang had been protecting the whole time, not even allowing her to get one swing in so of course, when they got home, Mat addressed the problem. They always let her fight so why was tonight any different. That is when every mistake that Mat had ever made decided to nip her in the butt.

"You are getting older, Mat, and we don't let girls fight for a reason. Y'all get hurt too easily." Dally said.

"We care about you, Mat, we don't want you getting hurt." Soda spoke.

"I've fought before so why is tonight any different?!" Matches was furious and confused and it reflected in her voice.

"Because you are becoming a woman, Matches. Women. Don't. Fight. Mom never did." Darry spoke, coldly.

"I ain't Mom, Darry."

"No. Ya sure as hell don't act like her. Mom would never have gone looking for trouble. She would never have been involved in fights. Hell, she would have acted like a sweet delicate little flower and behaved."

Matches was beyond peeved and yelled. "Is that all women are to you guys? Delicate little flowers that can't handle shit. Mom was one of the strongest women I knew and no she didn't fight but she could have, had she wanted to. I don't know who you had for a mother but it sure as hell wasn't mine."

"Your mom knew that fighting was a man's game and because of that she never had to pull a blade in a fight." Steve spoke, walking up to Mat and trying to intimidate her by pulling back past memories. A lot of rumbles back, maybe around a year ago, the greasers and Socs were fighting, but, for once, the Socs were winning. Mat had been fighting off this real large burly guy who must have been a quarterback in high school but was losing fast so she did something stupid but only to keep herself from being killed from having her head slammed around too much... she pulled her switchblade and because of that so did everyone else, Soc and greaser alike. There was so much blood. The fight didn't last long after that but many greasers and Socs were hospitalized including Soda and Johnny, two of the sweetest guys in the world, due to extreme stab wounds. It was horrible and everyone blamed Mat for starting the switchblade rumble, though none of them were extremely mad. Guilt ate away at her for a long time after that.

"I didn't mean anything by it. You know that it could have been anyone." Mat protested, trying to seem larger, stronger.

"But it wasn't anyone it was you and you shouldn't have even been there in the first place." Steve continued, rubbing salt into the old wounds.

"I was there because I'm a greaser too, Steve, or have you forgotten that?" Mat said, whispering the last words in utter fury."Look, Matches. We get that you're strong and all but I think we are all in agreement that you shouldn't be fighting." Two-Bit spoke, trying to calm the situation the only way he knew how, by reaching for Mat's shoulder but she pulled away.

"You all always say that another hand in a rumble is a good thing. Do you mean that? Do you mean it, when you say it to Tim, to Curly?"

"We want hands that are useful." This time Darry spoke. Darry was pissed about the rumble, due to the greasers actually losing, hell they all were but this was coming from somewhere else, not anger about a lost battle. "Not hands that get in the way."

"I have always held my own, Darry. Always. Where the hell is this even coming from?"

"You have not held your own. Not now. Not ever! You are a prime target for Soc attacks, hell even attacks from just some random person walking by, but you don't seem to care! You call for OUR help! You always need OUR help! You get attacked by Socs, you need us to bail you out!" _This happened maybe twice and it happened to every greaser._ "You are short for cash, you need our money!" _Not true, Mat was very against asking for money but they all often gave it to her anyway same with Ponyboy._ "Then you do shit in return! Your grades suck!" _You hear that A minuses and B pluses._ "You don't have a job!" Mat had secretly been working part time at the diner so as to surprise her brothers with some cash as repayment for everything they did for her all the time."Hell you don't even have a boyfriend!" _What did that have to do with anything?_ "In this house you are just a pointless, useless ball of nothing, another mouth to feed, someone who takes up everyone else's God damned time because she can't take care of herself!"

"If I am so useless, Darry, then maybe I should just go."

"Fine. Leave." This caught Matches by surprise.

"You don't mean that. You want me to stay."

"Oh. I mean it. Get the hell out of my house."

"You..." Mat was about to speak, but then looked around the room at the rest of the gang, who had backed off as far as they could. She searched for any sign that they didn't want her to go but all she got were heads looking away, maybe a sparing glance of pity. This included her younger brother and even her twin. If someone could feel their heart shatter, Mat felt it right then. "You guys want me to go? Stay silent if you agree with Darry." Silence was the only answer. "Fine. I'll leave." Mat said, turning to the door and then whispered. "Burn in hell." Mat walked to the screen door, grabbing her dad's baseball cap, which had somehow become hers, before walking out.

"Matches, wait." Soda spoke, reaching out a hand but just as the screen door closed shut.

 _Back at the Curtis' House…_

Dally sat, unusually quiet, staring at nothing at his feet, Johnny looked out the window, Pony stared at his brothers and friends, trying to figure if everything he just saw was a lucid dream. Soda stood, watching the screen door, waiting for his sister to burst through. Two-Bit, Steve, and Darry all looked at the spot where Mat had stood with a horror filled awe.

"What did I just do?" Darry asked, barely above a whisper. That was enough to ignite something in Soda, something angry.

"You just kicked our sister out! That's what you did!" Soda yelled, turning to Darry and grabbing the collar of his shirt. Darry was easily the larger of the two but Soda was beyond angry. He was practically blood thirsty. Steve and Two-Bit tried desperately to peel Sodapop's fingers away but they were latched with a chain like grip.

"Soda, let go man!" Steve yelled.

"C'mon, Sodapop. This ain't worth it." Two-Bit spoke.

"What the hell was going through your mind?" Soda said, through gritted teeth.

"I just wanted to protect her but I got mad. That's why. Oh, God." Darry mumbled, the world had turned upside down, after that hour of utterly frozen movements. They all began to realize what just happened, what none of them tried to stop.

 _Back at the Park…_

Those fucking Socs really did it. My hair, the pride of a greaser, was gone. Laying next to me in a lump and the hair that remained on my head was jaggedy and short, just a little longer than Soda's. I had no clue how many broken ribs I had. All eight of the stupid Socs had ganged up on me with blades in hand. I had huge gashes on my arms, more bruises on my body than all the people in Tulsa. They were holding me down, smiling evilly at me. One sat on my chest and I was trying hard to breath around him. I thought back to the short time it had taken for everything to go wrong.

 _One Hour Earlier…_

I had no clue where I was going the gang and my brothers were all I really knew, that and the Shepherd gang. Tim and I have been pretty close for years. For a tough hood,he could be real sweet, all of the greasers really did have a nice side to them, but not many knew that, hell the greasers probably don't either. If worse came to worst, Tim was my back up plan. Anyway, I just kept running into the night which, if the Windrixville incident or Johnny were any example, was not smart but I had to get away. Eventually, I turned around my head together a bit and I headed for the park. That was when I saw the Mustang pulling up. I could have run but I had nowhere to go so I pulled out a cancer stick and start smoking. They came out and threatened me a bit. Saying stuff about how I was "another good fer nothin' greaser," how I needed to be "taught a lesson," how I "would pay for those stupid greasers mistakes." None of us are perfect but I had no clue which greaser it was or what mistake I was going to pay for. Should have asked right then and there but, instead, I dropped my cancer stick, put it out on the ground with the tip of my boot, walking right up to the front of the pack I looked at him with as much hatred as I could muster, I could smell the alcohol on their breaths and I wanted to vomit from the stench, but, I was dead set on what I wanted to do. I said "Greaser is better than a stupid ass Soc anyday" and I slapped him. They were all over me in seconds and pushed me to the ground, the pack leader sitting on my chest. Once there I shouted, one of them kicked me in the ribs and the pack leader said "If you scream anymore we won't play nice." I shut up but I wasn't going to anyway. One soc took to my left leg and stood on it, kicked it, until it snapped. Another took my right arm pulling it until it popped and twisting the wrist until it was agonizing burning pain. The pack leader took to my face, punching me hard in the temples, the eyes, anywhere. The remaining three kicked randomly and slashed at me, enough to hurt me, but not enough to kill me. That was when the story began. The pack leader said, as he removed the baseball cap that was still sat on my head as a last sign of comfort, he cut my hair and he, also, cut my face with a long gash that started at the top of my right cheekbone down to the top part of the left side of my chin.

 _Back to the Park (present moment)..._

"Learned yer lesson yet, she-grease." The pack leader said, calling off his friends to stop what they were doing but not getting off my chest. Finally, an opportunity to ask the question that has been burning in my mind during my punishment.

"Fer what?" I asked, barely above a whisper which was all I could muster, feeling every bleeding, bruised, broken part of me.

"Fer yer stupid brother and friend killing Bob, figured we could make it worse for them by punishing you. We know you Matches Curtis and it is time you paid fer yer fucking family. "

The stupid Socs had been a real pain, after the event, but they stopped and returned to their usual ways which weren't much better but were at least less targeted. They, however, had just been waiting and chosen as me as their target. I was pissed, beyond pissed. I was being blamed for something I didn't do, something that my "family" did, my "friends." My injuries faded away into the pit of anger that began boiling inside me. My family tossed me out and now I was getting beat up for what they did. I had wanted to die so bad but what that Soc said really put in perspective. Sitting here taking in the pain was what they expected out of me, because I am too weak to take care of myself. HELL WITH THAT! After everything they did to me, to each other, I was not going to prove them right. Taking the switchblade out of my pocket, I stabbed that damn Soc in the thigh, he yelled in pain, and in a fluid motion I twisted it, yanked it out, and pushed the now writhing Soc off of me. The others began backing off as I stood up. Socs are cowards, too obsessed with self preservation to care about anything else. I spun in a circle, blade in hand.

"Who wants to join their fucking friend?" My image must have looked pretty messed up, a bloody knife, blood streaming down multiple parts of me, bizarre swelling, multi-colored bruised skin, jagged screwed up hair. Straight out of one of Ponyboy's horror novels. They ran all of them, beat it out of there, the pack leader limping to catch up with his friends. Who knows what would have happened had they stayed but just as the lights went out of sight. The anger faded and the pain was making a grand entrance. The world became a bunch of speckled light and blurred images until my body gave out and everything faded to black.

 _Back at the Curtis'..._

The gang had been frozen but they began to realize the truth of their actions. Darry may have said it but none of them denied anything. Had they really all just agreed that this girl, someone they all thought of as a sister, was a nothing? They all had troubles in their home lives and they had all just become the worst images of themselves. Mat meant a lot to them, though they never really understood what she did for them. Hell even Steve and Dally liked her and that was really saying something.

"We have to go find her." This was, surprisingly, said by Johnny who stood up in the process almost in sync with Ponyboy. Johnny never spoke but, after Windrixville, Johnny became someone else, someone who was not prepared to lose a loved one. Everyone nodded their heads and Darry, despite some of the anger that still lingered, gave out orders on where to go. Johnny and Dally were assigned the general neighborhood and then possibly the Shepherd's, the Curtis brothers would cover the lot,the park and the school, Two Bit and Steve the downtown area aka the DX, the Dingo, and so forth. They all agreed to walk to the park and split up there, walking quickly they reached the park only to see a dark figure masked by moonlight, with a blade in hand, swaying dizzily in front of them. This figure did not look familiar to any of them, even though they knew the moonlight masked person pretty much all their lives. Just as the figure was about to slam their head into the ground Ponyboy rushed forward. He was the first to look at her as her face was pressed against his chest. His only sister did not even look like herself but he knew those freckles anywhere, despite most of them being masked by blood and bruises. In holding her, he was slowly growing red, he felt bones shift inside the girl he held and shudders running up and down her body no doubt due to pain that covered her even in sleep. The others had rushed forward, praying (though none of them spiritual) beyond words that this figure was not the missing greaser but upon the sorrowful glance that Ponyboy gave them. They knew their prayers had not been answered.

"Oh my God." Darry said, kneeling down and removing Mat from Ponyboy's now shaky grasp. Johnny had knelt down to comfort Pony at least to prevent him from having a panic attack which, by the way he was shaking, was not too far away. Besides everyone else was too shocked to even notice Pony. Soda had knelt down as well (not reaching out to touch Mat just in case she shattered under his touch), Two Bit stared wide eyed, Steve just shook his head, and Dally, the only one who had put two and two together, was pissed at whatever freaking Socs thought it was okay to jump a girl in greaser territory especially after the events that happened last time that occurred. Socs never changed. Taking in all injuries from the dislocated shoulder to the bone in her leg jutting out to her black eye to the blood pouring out of gashes all over her to her missing hair, they remained that way until a whimper, Mat's whimper, shook them all out of it.

 _She is alive now but, if we don't hurry, she won't be._ They all thought in sync with one another.

"We gotta get her to the hospital." Soda spoke finally reaching out to touch his sister.

"Steve, you go start the truck and when you're done set up the truck so we can lay her flat in the back without hurting her more, Pony, Two Bit, and Soda run home and grab some towels and anything that can stop the bleeding. You four get the truck ready and get as close as you can get it. Dally and Johnny, ya'll help me move her without hurting her anymore. We have to move fast." Darry said. The four that were sent in the direction of the house ran as fast as they could the minute each got their individual orders. Darry had based it on how much each one of them could take in this scenario. Steve knew his way around a truck so the sense of familiarity was good. Pony and Soda knew what to get and should NOT have to watch their sister be heaved around in agony. Two Bit would want to help but Darry already knew who he needed to be with Mat as they brought her to the truck. Johnny was the perfect one to keep her calm, considering that Johnny would probably be the only one Mat would be forgiving for a while, anyone could forgive Johnny. Dally knew how to keep a level head and not be easily shaken and Darry NEEDED to be there. They all had gone into work now worry later mode.

Darry adjusted Matches into a sitting position which made her moan. He pressed her right shoulder against his chest to keep it in place and that woke her out of unconsciousness and she began gritting her teeth and breathing heavily with a worrying liquid sound coming in the back of her throat. Johnny knelt down in front of her half lidded eye considering the other was swollen shut. "You're gonna be okay. Alright. This is going to hurt real bad but you're gonna be alright." Mat scrunched her face, which hurt more, and nodded. Darry slid his right arm under her knees (Johnny grabbing the discarded baseball cap) and the three began running for the road with a damaged girl in Darry's grasp, Dally eyeballing the surroundings and keeping Mat's head or legs from hitting anything, and Johnny whispering sweet nothings to the girl who was in pure agony but was not able to fall unconscious again.

They made it to the truck where Steve was in the driver's seat and the other three were in the trunk. Darry passed her up to Soda and Two Bit as they sat her down in the center on a couple of pillows they grabbed and Darry sat up front while Dally and Johnny climbed into the back and the gang was going 70 in 20 miles an hour road. The gang in the trunk began pressing on Mat's wounds in an attempt to stop the bleeding and hold her steady so she did not fly out of the truck. She screeched when they first applied the pressure which made them all grimace as if they were the ones having knife wounds being pressed hard into the already bruising skin, a screech that would haunt their nightmares. Apologies echoed as they tried to reconcile for the pain they were causing her. Desperately, she tried to get out of their grasp but was too weak to put up much of a fight; however, the holding her down, the screech and the pain were nowhere near the worst part, because at some point Mat tried to clear her liquid filled throat and coughed up blood, lots of blood, before falling unconscious.

"Steve! DRIVE FASTER!" Soda yelled to Steve who was barely a foot away, sitting in the driver's seat. It was late at night and no one was out so Steve floored the gas pedal. Mat's breathing was becoming thinner and thinner and, finally, much to all of their relief. They reached the ER. Dally wasted no time. He scooped her up, knocking the rest of the gang's hands off, and jumped off the trunk and ran through the doors, the others close on his feet. The teenage girl looked much worse in the lights of the hospital, considering the whole time she was mostly embedded in moonlight or dim streetlight. Nurses and doctors ran over and took Mat from Dally, putting her on a gurney. They all tried to follow but were stopped by doctors. Honestly, Steve and Dally were ready to put up a fight but, just as the gurney was pushed through the doors into the surgical area, they heard "Code Blue! Code Blue!" being shouted and knew that them breaking in there would not make the doctors work any faster.

Figuring that waiting to hear about Johnny when he had gone through his back surgery was the worst thing they would ever experience was completely wrong, waiting to find out what happened to Mat was by far the worst. They all saw the damage and no one was telling them anything. Anxiety was running rampant and the teenage boys had no clue how to handle it. After Darry had filled out the required papers, he went into a state similar to that of when his parents died (stoic, almost made of stone, while inside he was screaming), Dally was pacing like mad and cursing under his breath occasionally hitting a chair or the table in the center of the waiting room, Two Bit and Steve were playing poker to keep their minds far away from it, Johnny was talking with Ponyboy in the other corner of the room (no doubt trying to subdue the guilt that Pony more than likely felt), and Sodapop, surprisingly, glared at the wall from one of the chairs as though it was to blame for this entire mess. All, minus Darry, had or were smoking.

"When are they going to tell us what the hell is going on!?" Dally asked and yelled, simultaneously, as he began to notice the sun coming up outside the window. The question was not really directed at anyone in particular, but Two Bit answered anyway.

"When they got an answer, Dal." Two Bit spoke before turning back to his cards. Dally glared and would have very well beaten Two Bit something fierce had a doctor not walked out that moment.

"Family of Matches Curtis?" The doctor spoke. All of the gang that was sitting got up in a mere half of a millisecond. The man looked around the mixed faces and did not seem convinced that they all were her family but he did not argue.

"I am her guardian, sir. How is she?" Darry asked, stepping closer.

"She is stable. She required eight stitches on her cheeks and more in varying places across her arms, legs and stomach, her broken nose has been set back in place, her right arm has, also, been placed back correctly, her right wrist appeared to be fractured and is now wrapped properly, she had three broken fingers on her left hand and ten broken ribs, also, bandaged, and ice has been placed on areas where extreme bruising seems to be occurring such as her eyes and stomach area. And I am sorry to say that all of that list is the good news." The doctor said, shaking his head and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Just tell us already." Steve said, not caring to wait any longer. Like how Steve felt towards Sodapop, he felt towards Matches. She tagged along often and sure it got on his nerves sometimes but she was Soda's twin so he felt quite protective of her. They may not have a lot in common but they could talk for hours. He DID NOT want to lose Mat.

"Alright, but I warn you now, it is not pleasant. Her left leg was snapped in a way that we fixed to the best of our ability, but she may have a limp, no telling how bad. She took a lot of damage to her temple and there is no telling what damage that may or may not have caused. There was severe internal bleeding in her abdomen and around her lungs which required surgery. Worst off was her lung. Her lung was punctured and, during surgery, collapsed. We have fixed it but there is no telling what damage will be left there. Ms. Curtis needed to be resuscitated once over the course of time since her arrival here. She is resting now in the ICU." None of them knew how to respond. Technically, she had died and they were all shocked beyond words. Silent tears dripped down Pony's face as he wanted nothing more than to hug his sister again. They were best friends, siblings, and he was practically feeling her pain and he hated it.

"Can we see her?" Johnny spoke, quietly, breaking the suffocating silence.

"Immediate family only." The doctor spoke. This pissed them off. How often were they going to have to explain that, despite not biological, they were a family?

"Sir. We are all a family and we would all like to see her please." Two Bit said, through practically gritted teeth.

"I am sorry, but..." The doctor was cut off by Dally who felt almost a desperate NEED to see Mat. He grabbed the doctor by the shirt.

"Listen. We are family and we would like to see her. NOW!" Dally spoke. Furious, exhausted, and ready to kill anything in his way. The doctor nodded in fear and Dally released his shirt as the man lead them to Mat's room.

"Nice going, Dal." Sodapop whispered as they walked down the seemingly never ending hallways. They finally reached a door marked 113 and the doctor warned them one more time before he opened it for them. Faces all turned pale including Steve's and Dally's. Matches had oxygen tubes coming out of her noses and tubes stuck out of all different main veins leading multiple medicines and such into her. She was so pale that, if her chest was not moving, they would think she was already dead. Bandages, splints, and bruises were what she was mostly made up of. Ponyboy walked over, knelt down next to the broken girl's left side and wept. Despite his wanting not to, he wept.

Soda walked over and put a hand on his brother's shoulder and smirked with tears stuck in his eyes. "What did you get yourself into?" He spoke before kneeling down as well.

"She may awake tonight but to be truthful, we don't know. I'll leave you all alone. I'm very sorry. If you need anything please just let us know." The doctor spoke as he left the room. No words could be said among any of the greasers. What could they say? An apology on deaf ears. Darry stood stoic behind his brothers, Dally looked furious as he stood by the door and Johnny attempted to calm him down, Two-Bit stared awkwardly at the floor next to Mat's bed and Steve stood at the tail end of Mat's bed and looked at her.

"Those damn socs." Dally said as he stared at Mat's body. That was when it clicked in everyone's heads about who did this to the little sister of the gang.

"They'll be sorry they're alive when I'm through with them." Steve said as he got nodding heads in agreement but that was all they did. They all stood for hours, the entire day, just frozen in this state of existence. Eventually Steve, Two-Bit, Dally, Johnny, and Ponyboy all left. Steve said that he would let the DX know where Soda was and all of them agreed to check up on Pony and the house once they were cleaned up and ate something. That just left Darry and Sodapop, whom despite the coaxing, would not leave.

Darry and Soda sat for another few hours and were about to leave when they saw her hand move. Soda squeezed her hand in response and they both tried to convince her to wake up.

* * *

All I felt was pain, horrible searing pain and I couldn't help but gasp. Desperately I fought to open my eyes which felt as though a thousand pounds of roofing had been hanging off of them. But words and something touching my hand refused to let me sleep so I pushed until I had my eyes open. The lights did not help. The pain doubled and I blinked about a million times before the figures came into view. It was those traitors is all I could think of when looking at them. They come to laugh at me? Or kick me? That is when I noticed the antiseptic smell and came to the realization that I was in a hospital. Great, so they were seeing me in a weak state like the girly girl they all thought I was!

"I'm gonna grab the doctor." Darry said as he ran off. That left me with Soda.

"Hey honey. It's good to see ya." Soda said with his charming smile and, usually I could forgive him in two seconds but now, I wanted to punch him in the face. Lucky for him my arms are immovable. Doesn't mean my lips aren't. Just like my eyes, I fought to make words and, when they came out, they were gasped and stuttered.

"Come on, honey. You can do it."

"T..t..trait..or.." I spoke.

"What was that?" Soda asked.

"Traitor." This time my words were perfect, they, also, really got to Soda as he looked like a just smacked him with a bat and that was when the doctor came in.

"Ah. For a moment there, you had me frightened. Thought you might...nevermind." The doctor said as Darry and Soda looked nervously at him. "Let's give you a look see, shall we?" He said as he began the basic once over (follow the light, move your hand, open your jaw,etc.). "Well looks likes you're gonna be fine, by these tests at least. We have a few more and you should stay for a few more days, a week at most, but then we can send you home."

"I don't have a home." I said, without thinking.

"Of course, you do. With us."Darry said as a sort of _I'm sorry that I threw you out but you should forgive me now and come back._ Soda squeezed my hand again and, despite my better judgement, I moved my hand away which made me whimper.

"Don't move so much or so fast." The doctor said but I didn't hear him, he was background noise.

"Y'all didn't want me so I'm out." I said. _What am I doing?_ I thought.

"You're what?" Darry said. That was when I sat up straighter, practically shaking from the effort.

"Did I stutter or can you not hear my womanly voice? Delicate flowers can't talk, right?"

Darry just stared. "You wanted me gone. I'm gone. Now get the hell out of here. Tell Two-Bit, Dally, Johnny, all of them, I'm done. Get lost!" I shouted, tears streaming down my face. Everything hurt but it was worth it.

"You two should leave. This stress is too much for her." The doctor said as he escorted my brothers out and closed the door. Before leaving my twin turned and looked at me with the saddest expression ever and said "For what it's worth, we're sorry."

All I did was look away as the door shut. There I cried until finally, at some point, I passed out.

* * *

"I'm sorry boys." The doctor spoke. "But we can try again a different time. For now, please, go home and get some rest. We'll keep her here and update you on any changes." He then walked away, leaving the two brothers to think about their mistakes.

"Darry, what did we do?" Soda asked. "I ain't ever seen her like that. She is always quick to forgive so why not now?"

"We broke her heart. That's why." Darry said forlornly as he walked towards the exit. Just as the rest of the gang decided to make their appearance, figuring that they had been away too long.

"Hey! She wake up?" Ponyboy asked as he closed the space between them. All the oldest Curtis' could do was nod their heads in response. "Can we see her?" To this, they hung their heads.

"What happened?"Johnny asked. The twin to the injured could not even begin to find the words to describe what happened. Lucky for him, Darry could.

"She wants out. I messed up and she's done with all of us. Told us to tell y'all to get lost." If Darry wasn't so good at being stone faced, he would have wept with his one and only sister.

"Darry, as much as I wanna blame ya, we didn't do anything either. We deserve as much blame as you." An uncharacteristically sad Two-Bit spoke.

"She'll come around. Do you know if she is still awake now?" Dally asked.

"Don't know. She was on the brink of sobbing when we left her." Soda said.

The greaser being spoken too, however, was already far passed Soda and on the way to the female greaser's room where he quickly opened the door to without even thinking. Closely followed by everyone else who, besides Steve, were completely opposed to the idea.

"What the hell ya thinking, Dal?" questioned Pony, who was just as upset as Soda was. They expected yelling something but the door opened to silence. Mat was out like a light once more. Pushing his way forward, the head of the pack stood next to the fallen and, uncharacteristically for the toughest boy in all of Tulsa, he rubbed her on the forehead gently. Smirking as he moved away, he wiped away at the tear stains on the girls face before he looked at the others.

"I ain't leaving. We all made a mistake and I sure as hell am going to make up for it." He stated with as much toughness as he could muster. They all nodded in agreement.


End file.
